Liquid delivery system including fluid additive injector



April 29, 1969 5, J, ER ET AL 3,441,042

" LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR Sheet INVENTORS 3' Sidney J. Pewer 9 Larry Peser a, l e ATTURNEYS Filed Oct. 5, 1966 April 29, 1969 5, J, ER ET AL 3,441,042

LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR 'Sheet 2 of5 Filed Oct. 5, 1966 m m M Sid/7e J Raise/"9 Larry Fedser BY WW ATTURN 5 April 29, 1969 5, RElSER ET AL.

LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR Sheet Filed Oct. 5, 1966 =w m M I INVENTORS Sad/veg Peiserv Larry BY April 29, 1969 RELSER ET AL 3,441,042

LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR Sheet 4 of 5 Filed Oct. 5, 1966 INVENTORS Sidney J. Reisem [arr Raise/- BY $344 7? A7TUHYY5 April 29, 1969 5, RElSER ET AL 3,441,042

LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR Filed Oct. 5, 1966 Sheet 5 of 5 Fr f2 INVENTORS Jdaney .1 False/s Zak/1g Pezlser ATTU United States Patent 3,441,042 LIQUID DELIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE INJECTOR Sidney J. Reiser and Larry Reiser, Rego Park, N.Y., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Metropolitan Petroleum Petrochemicals Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 5, 1966, Ser. N 584,587 Int. Cl. Gd 11/02 US. Cl. 137-101.31 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is an improvement over the system described in my prior Patent 3,100,496.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide a liquid delivery system in which a fluid additive is added to the flow of liquid in a delivery conduit by a fluid injector which is operatively responsive to the flow of liquid in the conduit.

A further object is to provide a liquid delivery system as described, wherein the fluid injector includes a reciprocating pump for injecting the additive fluid into the main stream of liquid.

A further object is to provide a system as described which can be installed on a fuel oil delivery truck for discharging a fluid additive into a fuel oil stream while the oil is being discharged from the truck to a consumers storage tank.

It is another object to provide a device of the character described with a reciprocating pumping element actuated by a rotating shaft driven by the main stream of fluid in the supply line for injecting the additive fluid at a variable rate depending on the rate of flow of the main stream.

For further comprehension of the invention and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIGURE 1 is a side view with parts omitted or broken away of a liquid delivery system embodying the invention, the system being installed on a tank truck.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale taken through a liquiddelivery conduit of the system of FIG. 1, with a liquid injection device shown in side elevation.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged end elevational view of the device taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view partially in side elevation taken on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of part of the injector device showing the rotor.

FIG. 6 is a further enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 4, showing the rotatable shaft and reciprocatable pumping element in one position.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 6, showing details of the rotor with parts of two vanes being broken away.

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FIG. 7A is a perspective view of an adjustment nut employed in the rotor.

FIG. 8 is still a further enlarged perspective view of a single vane of the rotor.

FIG. 9 is an end view of the vane taken on line 99 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view similar to a part of FIG. 6, showing the shaft and pumping element in another position.

FIG. 11 is an exploded plan view of the rotatable shaft and pumping element.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional view of a fluid control valve employed in the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged sectional view of a flow control valve employed in the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing another rotor construction.

FIG. 15 is a side view of the rotor of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view of parts of the rotor of FIG. 15.

The system 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a fuel oil supply tank 12 carried by a trailer truck 14 and having compartments 15 defined by partitions 16. The compartments contain fuel oil 20. The fuel oil is discharged via a manifold 22 and distributor valve 24 into a main fuel oil supply line or conduit 26. In this line, connected by couplings 28, 29 are two lines or conduit sections 27 and 30. Between sections 27 and 30 is an assembly 32 shown to better advantage in FIG. 2 and including fuel oil filter 33 and additive injection device 50. The fluid additive 52 is contained in an auxiliary supply tank 54 which has an outlet line 55 connected to a valve 56. Additive supply line 58 is connected to valve 56 and terminates at the inlet of a flow control device 60. The outlet line 62 of device 60 is connected to conduit section 30 where it is connected to device 50 as better shown in FIG. 2. The device 60 has a lateral branch pipe 63 connected to line section 30 so that device 60 is responsive to the pressure of fuel oil flowing in the line. Device 60 is described further below in connection with FIG. 12. The valve 56 is described further below in connection with FIG. 13. A pump 64 is provided in section 30 to drive fuel oil mixed with additive 52 through supply line 66 to a metering device 68 from which the fuel oil mixture flows through discharge pipe 69 temporarily connected to a consumers storage tank 70, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, assembly 32 includes a cylindrical casing 70 into which fuel oil 20 enters from line section 27. Casing 70 has a laterally and angularly extending branch 72 in which is cylindrical screen filter or strainer 33. Removable cap 73 closes branch 72. The filter extends into and across the casing 70 so that the fuel oil 20 traverses path P through the filter and enters fuel line section 30 in which device 50 is installed. Line section 30 has an externally threaded end portion 75 engaged with an internally threaded flange 76 at the outlet end of casing 70. Device 50 has an external tubular ring 80 force fitted in the cylindrical line section 30. The ring 80 has an annular flange 82 seated in a groove 84 formed in line section 30. Ring 80 is axially aligned with the axis of line section 30. Additive line v62 is connected to fitting 81 which is secured to line section 30. A connecting pipe 84 connects fitting 81 and line 62 to inlet fitting 85 of device 50. Device 50 has a rotor and stator 92 best shown in FIGS. 3 to 11 to which reference is now made.

The rotor 90 has a tubular, tapered body 94 formed with an internal cavity 95. The wall of the cavity is threaded and removably engages threaded nipple 96 of a tapered nut 98. The nut has a central bore 99 through which a hexagonal wrench can be inserted for engagement in hexagonal hole 100 of an adjustment nut 102. The head of the nut is located in recess 104 of nut 98;

3 see FIG. 6. Lateral holes .105 in nut 98 can be engaged by a spanner wrench for removing and replacing nut 98 on body 94.

In body 94 is a plurality of radial circumferentially spaced bores 106 opening into cavity 95. Generally cylindrical shanks 108 of vanes 110 fit rotatably in bores 106. Each shank has a circumferential groove 112 engaged by a different one of pins 114 inserted axially of body 94 in bores 116. Short keys extend inwardly of cavity 95 from the ends of shanks 108. Each key 120 is eccentrically located at the end of a shank 108 as clearly shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The keys are engaged in a circumferential groove 122 formed in the cylindrical body 124 of nut 102; see FIGS. 6, 7 and 7A. Nut 102 has an internally threaded bore 125 and is engaged on one end of rotatable shaft 130. The shaft is screwed into threaded bore 132 of body 94 and is locked securely to this body so that the shaft and body rotate together with nut 98 as a unit. The nut 102 can be axially advanced or re tracted on the threaded end 131 of shaft 130. This advances or retracts all keys 120 simultaneously axially of the rotor 90. Movement of the keys causes the shanks 108 to rotate simultaneously so that the flat vanes 110 all turn.

Vanes 1.10 extend radially of the rotor inside of ring 80 and are disposed so that their planes are angularly disposed to the axis of the rotor and ring. Thus when the fuel oil 20 flows through the casing section 30 and ring 80 the rotor is caused to turn circumferentially inside the ring.

Stator 92 supports the rotor. This stator has a generally cylindrical body 135 integrally formed with three radial spider arms 136 secured inside of ring 80; see FIGS. 3 and 6. A radially extending projection 137 is formed on body 135. In this projection is a threaded bore 138 in which is secured fitting 85. Pipe 84 is connected to this fitting as mentioned above. Bore 138 has a portion 138 extending radially of body 135 and opening into a cylindrical bore 140 formed in the body.

Shaft 130 extend axially through bore 140 and terminates at its other end 141 in an enlarged pumping chamber 142 formed at the outer end of body 135. A pumping element 144 is disposed in chamber 142. This element is a cup shaped member having an axial blind bore 146. The shaft 130 is freely rotatable inside of bore 146. Inside bore 146 the shaft end 141 is smoothly fitted. The outer cylindrical wall 148 of element 144 forms a rather tight slidable friction fit with the wall 149 of chamber 142. Thus element 144 is slidable axially inside of chamber 142 of the stator 92 but will not rotate with shaft 130.

Element 144 has a lateral hole 150 in which is a pin 152. The pin extends inwardly of the element and is located in a generally elliptical circumferential camming slot or groove 153 formed externally on shaft end 141. Pin 155 in bore 157 holds pin 152 in element 144. It will thus be apparent that when the shaft 130 rotates, the element 144 which is frictionally gripped by the wall of chamber 142 will reciprocate axially without turning. If desired element .144 and wall 149 can be noncircular in cross section to prevent turning of element 144 in chamber 142.

A circumferential groove 160 is formed in shaft 130. A pin 162 seated in a bore 164 in body 135 engages in groove 160 and holds the shaft rationally in body 135 while preventing it from axial movement. A lateral circumferentially extended hole 168 is formed in shaft 130. This hole communicates with a bore 170 in the shaft. Body 135 has a radially extending port or hole axially aligned with the inlet passage terminating in bore 138. Port .175 is aligned with hole 168 so that in one position of the shaft as shown in FIG. 6, bore 138' opens into bore 170 through hole 168. In another rotational position of the shaft shown in FIG. 10, bore 170 communicates with port 175 via hole 168. A radially extending 4 hole 176 in shaft end 141 provides continuous communication between bore 170 and pumping chamber 142.

During operation of the device 50, the fuel oil 20 flowing through line section 30 will turn the vanes 110 so that rotor 90 rotates continuously. When shaft hole 168 is open to inlet passage .138, 138 as shown in FIG. 6, additive fluid 52 will enter bore 170 and will fill chamber 142 through hole 176 while pumping element 144 is pushed outwardly to the right to its outward limit shown in FIG. 10. This outward movement is caused by the engagement of cam follower pin 152 in rotating ca mming groove 153. After chamber 142 is filled, the circumferentially extended hole 168 comes around to hole 175 in body 135. The additive fluid 52 discharges then into the stream of fuel oil surrounding the body 135. The fiuid discharges through hole 175 because the pumping element 144 is pulled inwardly to the left from the position shown in FIG. 10 to the position shown in FIG. 6. As the element 144 moves to the left or inwardly of body 135 chamber 142 is reduced in size and fluid 52 passes through hole 176 into bore 170 and then through hole 168 to hole 175. By this arrangement the additive fluid passes in spurts into the main body of fuel oil. The rate of additive fluid ejection depends on the speed of rotation of the rotor 90. This speed depends on the speed of flow of the fuel oil and on the pitch of the vanes 110 as set by nut 102.

The flow control device 60 shown in FIGS. 1 and 12 serves to open and close automatically the passage of additive fluid to fluid injection device 50. Device 60 has a body block 200 in which are aligned inlet bore 202 and outlet bore 204. Supply line 58 is connected to bore 202 and outlet line 62 is connected to bore 204. In block 200 is a vertical cylindrical chamber 206 in which is slidably fitted a cylindrical piston 208. The piston has a circumferential groove 210 which provides communication between bores 202 and 204, when the piston is elevated. The piston rests on a diaphragm 212 supported between block 200 and a closure plate 214. Bolts 216 hold plate 214 to block 200 with the diaphragm therebetween. Chambers 218 and 220 are defined in the block and plate respectively above and below the diaphragm. Branch pipe 63 is connected to vertical bore 222 in plate 214 and opens into chamber 220. Fuel oil 20 under pressure enters chamber 220' when pump 64 is operating to pump fuel oil through line 66. Branch pipe 63 is located between the pump and line 66 as shown in FIG. 1. Thus when the oil 20 under pressure in chamber 220 elevates the diaphragm and piston, the piston rises and opens the normally closed passage between bores 202 and 204. When the flow of fuel oil 20 stops, the pressure in chamber 220 falls and the piston descends to close off inlet bore 202 from outlet bore 204. By this means the fluid injection device 50 is supplied with additive fluid 52 only while the pumping pressure of main stream 20 is sufficient to open the passage through flow control device 60.

Valve 56 shown in FIGS. 1 and 13 has a manually adjustable threaded shaft 225 seated in a threaded bore 226 in body 230 of the valve. The shaft has a tapered plug 232 on its inner end extending across vertical outlet bore 234. The body 230 has an arm 236 in which is inlet bore 238 to which pipe 55 is connected. Line 58 is connected to bore 234 in arm 240 of body 230. Shaft 225 has an adjustment knob 242. It will be apparent that by adjusting the valve shaft 225 very fine control of the rate of flow of additive fluid 52 can be effected. This adjustment can be made to supplement the adjustment of rotor speed 90 accomplished by adjusting nut 102 in the rotor 90. Nut 102 will provide a relatively coarser adjustment of rotor speed with respect to the speed of fuel oil flow when the pitch of vanes 110 is varied. Valve 56 will enable finer adjustments to be made.

If it is determined that a particular pitch of vanes 110 is optimum, it is possible to replace the rotor 90 in device 50 with one of simpler construction shown in FIGS. 14-16. Here the rotor 90' has a generally cylindrical body 250 with tapered forward end 252. In the cylindrical rear body portion 254 are arcuate slots 255 circumferentially spaced around the body 250 and extending at a predetermined angle to the axis of the body. Curved vanes 110' fit into these slots. The vanes have holes 256 at their ends in which engage anchor pins 258 extending through longitudinal holes 260 formed in body 250. Body 250 has a threaded bore 132, which receives the threaded end 131 of shaft 130 in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 6. When the rotor 90' is employed in the fluid additive injection device, fine adjustments of the speed of rotation of the rotor with respect to the speed of rate of flow of the fuel oil 20 will be made by adjusting valve 56. In any case, the pumping of the additive fluid will be the same as described in connection with device 50 as shown in FIGS. 3-10.

There has thus been provided according to thelinvention a liquid delivery system which includes a reciprocating pumping element driven by a rotor which is rotated by the main stream of fluid. It will be understood that the device can be used in other fluid distribution systems than the particular fuel oil delivery system described.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of our invention it is to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise construction herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: t

1. A liquid delivery system, comprising a tank of liquid, a conduit connected to said tank for conveying a stream of said liquid therefrom, a container of additive fluid, a pipe connected to said container for conveying said additive fluid therefrom, a fluid injector device wholly contained in said conduit, said pipe being connected to said injector device through a side of said conduit, said device comprising a rotor and stator, said stator having an inlet and an outlet, said pipe terminating at said inlet for delivering said additive to the stator, said outlet providing communication between the interior of the stator and the interior of said conduit for feeding said additive fluid into the stream of liquid in the conduit, said stator having a fluid passage therein, and flow control means in the stator located between said inlet and outlet for passing said additive fluid in spurts into said stream of liquid, said rotor having a plurality of vanes disposed inside said conduit in said stream of liquid for rotation thereby when the stream is flowing, said rotor being operatively connected to said flow control means for driving the same to discharge said additive fluid into the stream of liquid.

2. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a manually operable adjustable valve connected to said pipe for selectively regulating the speed of flow of said additive fluid in said pipe.

3. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 2, further comprising a flow control device having inlet and outlet ports and another passage therebetween connected in circuit with said pipe, a movable piston disposed between said inlet and outlet ports in said other passage for selectively opening and closing the same, a diaphragm abutting said piston for moving the same, and another pipe connected bet-ween said conduit and said flow control device for applying pressure of said stream of liquid to said dia phragm to move the piston and open said other passage, whereby said other passage is closed when the stream of liquid in said conduit is stopped.

4. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 1, wherein said flow control means includes a reciprocated pumping element, a shaft rotated by said rotor, and camming means operatively interconnecting the pumping element with said rotor for reciprocating the pumping element while the shaft rotates to open and close said passage, whereby the pumping element forces said additive out of the outlet of the stator.

5. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 1, further comprising means for adjusting the pitch of the vanes to selectively determine the speed of rotation of said rotor in said stream of liquid, whereby the rate of discharge of said additive fluid into said stream of liquid is determined.

6. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 5, further comprising a manually operable adjustable valve connected to said pipe for cooperation with the pitch adjustment means of the vanes for determining the rate of discharge of additive fluid into said stream of liquid.

7. A liquid delivery system as recited in claim 6, further comprising a flow control device having inlet and outlet ports and another passage therebetween connected in circuit with said pipe, a movable piston disposed between said inlet and outlet ports in said other passage for selectively opening and closing the same, a diaphragm abutting said piston for moving the same, and another pipe connected between said conduit and said flow control device for applying pressure of said stream of liquid to said diaphragm to move the piston and open said other passage, whereby said other passage is closed when the stream of liquid in said conduit is stopped.

8. A device as recited in claim 4, wherein said means operatively interconnecting the rotor and pumping element comprises a generally elliptical camming groove formed on the exterior of the shaft, and a pin extending radially from said pumping element and engaged in said camming groove, so that rotation of the shaft causes said pumping element to reciprocate axially, said pumping element being nonrotatably engaged with said chamber to prevent rotation of the pumping element with said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,058,889 10/1936 Jones 137-10131 2,826,211 3/1958 Reed 137-98 3,100,496 8/1963 Reiser 137111 NATHAN L. MINTZ, Primary Examiner.

Disclaimer 3,441,042.- 2'dney J. Reiser and Larry Reiser, Rego Park, NY. LIQUID DE- LIVERY SYSTEM INCLUDING FLUID ADDITIVE 1N J EC- TOR. Patent dated Apr. 29, 1969. Disclaimer filed Feb. 9, 1972, by the assignee, Metropolitan Petroleum Petrochemicals 00., Inc. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 of said patent.

[Ofiioz'al Gazette August 1, 1.972.] 

